Born in Cayenne, French Guiana, the grandson of slaves, Éboué was the fourth son in a family of five brothers.

His father, Yves Urbain Éboué, was a gold prospector, and his mother, Marie Josephine Aurélie Léveillé, was a shop owner born in Roura.

This ultimately gave Charles de Gaulle's faction control of the rest of French Equatorial Africa.

[4] As governor of the whole of French Equatorial Africa between 1940 and 1944, Éboué published The New Indigenous Policy for French Equatorial Africa, which set out the broad lines of a new policy that advocated respect for African traditions, support for traditional leaders, the development of existing social structures and the improvement of working conditions.

[5] He classified 200 educated Africans as "notable évolués" and reduced their taxes, as well as placing some Gabonese civil servants into positions of authority.

[6] His wife, Eugénie, was initiated at Droit Humain in Martinique[7] and his daughter Ginette at Grande Loge Féminine de France.

His mortal remains were reburied in the Panthéon in Paris in 1949, making Éboué the first black French man honored in this manner.